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MELBOURNE - It's the beginning of the end for cricketers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath and the start of what could be a record-breaking week at the MCG.
The fourth Ashes Test is strictly-speaking a dead rubber, as Australia leads the series 3-0 and already has the urn in its keeping, but that's unlikely to matter too much to an enormous crowd expected tomorrow.
Ricky Ponting's Australian side is on track to complete only the second whitewash in a five-match Ashes series and the first since Warwick Armstrong's men won 5-0 in the summer of 1920-21.
The looming retirements of Warne and McGrath, two of cricket's greatest bowlers, will also ensure the match becomes a rousing farewell party from sports-mad Melbourne.
The bowlers, who have 1254 Test wickets between them, announced they were ready to retire from cricket in the lead-up to this match.
They will play their final Tests in Sydney in the new year, but McGrath plans to bow out after the World Cup.
There's also further incentive for fans to get to the ground early, as Warne's first wicket will make him the first man to take 700 career dismissals.
The man who claims his life is one big soap opera could not have scripted this one any better.
It's unlikely forecast rain will deter thousands of fans attending the match.
Cricket officials expect the MCG to be full over the first two days - the ground has a capacity of 98,000 - and a tilt at the world record attendance is on the cards.
Officials expect the record for a single day's play at a Test match - 90,800 set at the MCG in the summer of 1960-61 - to be broken, and the aggregate crowd at a Test match - 350,354, set at the MCG in 1936-37 - to also be challenged.
Ponting said Australia had to put the emotion of the occasion aside if it was to crown its magnificent performance so far this series.
"We've got to try to block that out, to put that aside and focus on the little things that are going to make us play well," he said.
- AAP
